A winning plan
by Aspire.Dream.Forget
Summary: In the biggest tournament of the year, everyone wants to win. So what do you do when you fear that you might be defeated by a rival? You make a plan that's sure to guarantee you a place in the final, of course.


A winning plan

So I changed the end because it made no sense. Kthanks.

Warnings: uh, language.

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><p>So far, today had been a pretty good day. I inhaled a long breath as I strapped my duel disk to my arm and let it out again in one long sigh. Defeating Téa was easy. In fact, eliminating anyone who stood in my way had been easy. Now the hard part would begin. I picked up my deck and cut the cards in half, flicking up the corners and interlacing them together as I let go again, shoving the two halves back together. And it was only going to get better.<p>

"Hey," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned to find that it was Yugi, who greeted me with a smile. "Good luck for today."

I grinned back at him. "Thanks, but I don't really need it," I replied, nothing able to break my vigilant demeanour.

"Oh, I dunno," Yugi said, not as sure as me. "I mean it is Kaiba."

I scoffed and dismissed his statement with a flick of my wrist. "So what?" I said. "He ain't going to stop me, nobody will."

"Joey, it's the semi-finals," Yugi cautiously reminded me. "You need to start thinking about what you're doing instead of relying on a lucky draw."

"I don't rely on luck!" I snapped, slipping my deck into its slot in my duel disk. "I have a strategy. I know what I'm doing."

"Well, if you say so," Yugi said, cheering up again. "Still, good luck. I reckon you might need it more than you think you do."

I accepted his kind words with another smile. "Whatever you think. But thanks anyway," I said, preparing to face who I was sure to be my second last opponent before I took out the title of the best. And for once, it would be me, not Yugi. I would make sure of that. Yugi left me alone to further prepare for the impending duel, but I was done and was simply waiting for my opponent. I was pacing back and forth in the empty room before I heard more footsteps approaching. I shot to attention, thinking that it might be Yugi returning or another of my friends, but I found Kaiba standing in the doorway. Somehow, I don't think he was here to wish me luck.

"What're you doing here?" I snapped, confused as to why he had even showed up here. Surely it couldn't be for any good reason.

"I want to talk," he replied in a tone no sweeter than mine, before shutting the door behind him.

_That was unusual_, I thought. _What's he going to tell me?_

"I thought it was bad luck to see your opponent before the duel," I sarcastically said, but he wasn't amused. I began to nervously pace again and not stopping, even when I heard the click of the door being locked.

"Do you know why I'm in this tournament?" he asked, obviously a rhetorical question that I wasn't meant to answer; and he didn't wait for me either. "I'm here to win."

"And you think by telling me this that I'm just going to step aside and let you win?" I growled. "In your dreams! I'll let you win when you win fair and square!"

His brow creased in a frown at my interruption, scrutinising me with his sapphire blue eyes. "I know that you're barely going to stand in my way," he said, his tone softening slightly. "But I would do anything to make sure that you won't for sure."

My feet hesitated as he said that and a slight nervous feeling slowly began to creep through me. I paused as he didn't elaborate any further before asking, "What do you mean?" _He's not going to try and hurt me, is he...? Maybe that's why he locked the door when he came in..._

"What I mean is that you aren't going to stop me from winning, and I'm going to make sure of that no matter the consequences."

I always hated the way he spoke. Like he was so superior to me. But that feeling of warning I had in the pit of my stomach only increased. "I don't know what kind of a plan you've got, but you might as well leave now," I confidently said, glad that none of my nerves showed through in my tone.

He took a wide stride towards me and I instinctively shuffled back, his blank expression twisting to a wicked smirk. "What do you think I'm going to do?" he idly inquired, pacing half a circle around me as if he was surveying me.

"There's nothing you can do," I spat. "I don't care what happens, you ain't going to beat me!" I warily followed his movements with my own gaze.

"You don't think there's anything I can do?" he thoughtfully posed, stopping where he stood.

"Yeah, I don't think there is!"

"Really?"

"Really! Come on," I jeered, balling my fingers tight into fists, "give me your worst!"

He took another step towards me, and I tried to move away from him like an opposing magnet but I found my back against the wall. He pushed my raised fists back down to my sides and drilled into me with cobalt irises.

"Oh I'm not here to fight," he quietly said. "Quite the opposite."

"If you're not here to fight, then how else do you think you're going to stop me?" I asked, bemused by his strange behaviour. I found his hand gripping the bottom of my chin.

"Like this."

His piercing azure eyes began to move closer before they suddenly slipped shut and I felt the soft touch of moist, velvety lips against my own. _Shit!_ I screamed in my mind, unable to use my mouth for it was enclosed by another. What the fuck was happening? His hand slid to cup around my face and my own eyelids involuntarily slipped shut from the warm feeling that started up in my gut. I shouldn't be feeling like this. It was bad, very bad, not to mention oh so wrong. But he was so tender, I just...

I let out a soft whimper at his transgression and put my hands on his shoulders to push him back off me, but all I ended up doing was gripping them so tight that my knuckles turned white. And the worst part was that I didn't want him to stop. I should be repulsed! I should shove him away and beat him to death for this! Yet I didn't want to; I actually found myself enjoying it. I felt his tongue sliding over my lips, asking to enter, and my lips inadvertently parted to let him have his wish. I had long given up listening to my head, screeching at me to stop, only obeying my heart, begging me for more...

...Ugh, terrible, terrible! What was I letting him do? What would people say if they ever knew? Why on earth did I find myself enjoying this so much? I didn't know whether it was a shiver or his fingers lingering at my spine, but I didn't really care at that point either. Mmm, he tasted like honey...

No, no, this was so wrong...! His hand moved from my face to paw through my thick hair, his pressing palm keeping my mouth caught against his own, as if he didn't want me to let go. Hell, I know I didn't want to. But I had to. Especially as I felt a soft nip on my bottom lip, a stifled moan escaping me before I could stop it. It was so disgustingly wrong that I almost wanted it to be right.

That's it. This had to stop.

I lifted my hand from his shoulder, drew my hand back, and _slap!_

He reeled back away from me, half-wincing in discomfort and half-grinning at me wickedly.

"Alright, what the fuck?" I hissed. "So _that's_ your plan? Ha! Nice try, _jerk_, but I think I can handle a bit of suck-face from you!"

"Of course you can," he calmly and sarcastically replied, heading towards the door.

"Your idea was _shit_!" I spat. "And it certainly won't work!"

He turned back to me from where he stood in the doorway, flicked over me with his cobalt eyes and said, "I think it already has." before leaving me without another word.

_What?_ I thought, then, "What?" I yelled, but he ignored me and didn't return. "Alright, fine!" I cried out after him, unsure of whether he could even hear me or not. "We'll see what happens! I'm going to kick your _ass_!"

I began to pace as I had been earlier, but this time I walked at a much brisker rate, infuriated by Kaiba and his smug confidence, his conceited superiority. I _was_ going to beat him, and I _was_ going to be the best. He'll see. I'll show him. If anything, he had only made me even angrier than before. So much for his stupid plan; he's only made it worse for himself, he'll see!

A few minutes later I was ready for the duel, ready to take on Kaiba, and ready to win. I made my way to the place we were duelling, finding Kaiba already there, waiting with his usual gleefully complacent expression on his face.

"Good luck," he jeered from the opposite side of the field.

_Yeah, good fucking luck to you too_, I thought, but simply gritted my teeth and concentrated on what was to happen next. We advanced with the pre-duel necessities and he made his move first; calm, concise, _screw him_. My turn finally rolled around, and I knew exactly what to do. I drew my cards, set the ones I wanted, and:

"Attack!" I yelled, angry at the way he could be so collected in a situation. Didn't he understand what was at stake? Didn't he remember the way he tried to stop me? In fact, that just made me mad! Now he's screwed, now he'll see!

Most of the duel advanced in the same way, with him calmly and quietly making each of his moves while I raced ahead, attacked, yelled, concentrated on nothing but taking him down. I reached into my deck to draw another card, picking it up and staring at it; it wasn't a monster card. I glanced over at his side of the field, laden with monsters ready to attack, then back to my graveyard, laden with monsters that _had been_ ready to attack.

"Attack, attack, attack?" I heard Kaiba condescendingly say. "That wouldn't have been your original plan, would it? Surely no idiot would come into a tournament without a strategy."

I set the trap card in my hand and conceded my turn, and this time there was no yelling, no attacking. I did have a strategy, I told Yugi I did. But I had completely forgotten about it.

"Shit," I swore under my breath as I heard Kaiba give his own command to attack, finally realising what his plan had been. He _wanted_ to make me mad. That was his intention in the first place. I would get angry, try to take him down with all my monsters in the first few turns, and he would patiently wait and defend until I had no monsters left; then he would finally make his own move. No surprise, that was what was happening now, as I was greeted with the fury of several monsters that I had so shamefully been taken down by too many times before. And before I knew it, it was over. He had won, and I just looked like an idiot.

"So, uh, whose plan didn't work?" Kaiba mocked, cupping a hand around his ear as if he was waiting for me to reply. "Oh, right, yours. Oh well, better luck next time."

I wanted to swear at him, go up to him and even punch him, but if this had taught me anything, it was that I should really learn to control my anger. I bit my lip as I held in all the nasty things I could say to him as he left with his precious victory, and I was left feeling ashamed. Yugi approached me from where he had been watching in the crowd, shaking his head.

"I thought you said you had a plan," he said.

"I did," I replied. "I guess Kaiba's was just better than mine."

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><p>Well, that's different. Better? Who knows.<p> 


End file.
